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Educational Articles

What is the No Child Left Behind Act and what does it mean to educators, students, and parents? In this article we will highlight its major objectives.
The No Child Left Behind Act is landmark bipartisan legislation which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), while incorporating the following principles and strategies:

•    Higher accountability for states, school districts, and schools
•    More educational choices for parents and students, especially those attending dangerous or poorly performing schools
•    Greater flexibility at the state and local levels in the use of federal money
•    Special emphasis on reading, particularly for young children.

This legislation dramatically increases funding for education, while requiring the money to be spent responsibly. It provides resources to finance the reforms and to help teachers meet tougher standards, with the ultimate goal being better education for all groups of children, including those struggling with poverty, disabilities, and handicaps.

The NCLB Act does the following: (U.S. Dept. of Education estimates)

•    Increases federal funding under the ESEA to over $22.1 billion

•    Increases Title 1 funding to approximately $10.4 billion

•    Provides close to $3 billion for recruiting and retaining high quality teachers and principals

•    Increases funding for reading programs to nearly $1 billion

•    Provides approximately $200 million for charter schools.

Now let us consider the four major provisions of the act in more detail:

Accountability

•    It requires states to implement programs that cover all public schools and all public school students.

•    States must devise challenging standards, particularly in math and reading.

•    It requires regular testing of students to ensure progress. (Tests may also be used to 
           determine grade promotion and graduation).

•    Test results and state progress objectives must be broken down by race, ethnicity, poverty, 
           disability, and limited English proficiency (LEP).

•    Schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress toward proficiency goals will eventually be 
           subject to improvement and corrective action to get them back on course.

•    States must provide regular report cards on schools.

School choice

•    Students in persistently failing schools may transfer to another public or charter school in the district.

•    Students who have been attacked or who attend dangerous schools may transfer to a safer school.

Flexibility for schools, districts, and states

•    Local school districts will be able to spend up to 50% of their federal money however they
           choose (e.g. Title 1, innovative programs).

•    More decision-making will take place at the local level.

Putting Reading First and The Early Reading First Programs

•    The goal is to have every child reading by the end of 3rd grade.

•    The emphasis will be on proven teaching methods that work.

•    More money will be funneled into scientifically based reading instruction in the early grades.

•    A benefit of this approach is that fewer students will be classified as “special ed,” when they 
           have simply been lacking proper early reading instruction.

•    States will be awarded grant money for the screening and assessment of students in grades 
           K-3, to determine who is at risk of reading failure.

•    Professional development will be provided for teachers who need instruction on how to teach 
           reading more effectively.

For all of this to produce the best results:

•    Standards must be well-written so that they clearly explain what students should know and be able 
           to do at the end of each grade.

•    Curriculum must be aligned to standards.

•    Teachers must be given on-going training and support in standards-based education as well as 
           access to curriculum aligned to standards.

•    Tests must be aligned to standards.

We will continue our discussion in our next article.

There are educators who are making standards-based education work, and who are seeing gratifying results in their students. You can be one of them. One way is to use standards-based materials. We at Remedia have already aligned a number of our materials to standards, and continue to do so. Our web site features these materials along with the performance objectives they meet. 

Another resource is our new Learning Programs Catalog. It groups many of our best-selling books into convenient learning kits, all aligned to specific performance objectives. Some of the learning programs include: Critical Thinking, Reading Skills, Language Skills, Math Skills, and Test-taking Skills. Call 1-800-826-4740 to request a copy. Also, for details on our newest skills-based books, request a copy of our newsletter or our regular catalog.

-- Marion Hindes